Calif Sierra snowpack slightly above normal

SACRAMENTO, Calif.  Winter storms have blanketed the Sierra Nevada with snow, raising the prospects farmers and cities will get more water.

The California Department of Water Resources reported Thursday the water content of the Sierra snowpack is slightly above normal this spring. It is 106 percent of the normal level across the 400-mile-long mountain range.

The department monitors the snow's water content in the Sierra because California depends on spring snowmelt from the range to supply water to roughly two-thirds of the state and farmers in the Central Valley. The snow is usually at its peak in April.

Despite the solid snowpack, water won't be plentiful this year. Three drought years have left the state's largest reservoir less than half full.